History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c14.3

v1.c14.3

Devices on a large number of silver and copper coins do not cover the whole or most of the flan. Here the devices are impressed by separate punches with various dies ‘applied irregularly at various points on the surface’ (Smith, 1906). This peculiarity led Prinsep to use the term ‘punch-marked’ for describing this series of coins (JASB, 4, 1835, p. 627). For manufacturing such pieces a prescribed amount of metal (and alloying materials) should have been melted in a crucible and the molten metal was left to be cooled as a lump or was cast into sheets of required thickness.